Jose Mourinho will take a lingering sense of injustice into Manchester United's Europa League clash with Feyenoord at Old Trafford - but he is convinced his side's luck is about to change.
Mourinho insists his team's patchy start to the season would have looked different had they taken the points he believes their performances richly deserved in recent Premier League games.
United know they must not lose for a second time against their Dutch opponents or they will face elimination from Group A and their campaign will take another distinct turn for their worse.
Mourinho said: "It is not a dramatic result to draw against a very good team like Arsenal but if you play so well and you dominate totally then the result becomes really bad.
"Especially in the last three matches we can say we lost six points - against Stoke, Burnley and Arsenal - when we played well enough to get the results to go with the performance.
"With these six points we would now be in the top four, very close to the first or second, so the difficult thing to accept is that we played so well and we didn't win in those three matches.
"But this is football - the same team cannot be unlucky all the time. Our lucky period will arrive too. We are very clear between us about the direction of our football and our principles."
Mourinho could hand Henrikh Mkhitaryan a rare chance to impress against Feyenoord while Luke Shaw is set to return after controversially missing the win at Swansea two weeks ago due to injury.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will also be looking to get back on the goalscoring trail after Mourinho confirmed he is keen to exercise an option to keep the Sweden international at Old Trafford for a second year.
Although the deal is yet to be finalised, Mourinho said: "Zlatan's situation is simple - he has one plus one year at the club and we are happy with him and we are going to execute the option of a second season.
"He is happy, he's committed and he is loving his life as a football player at Manchester United and this is probably the last big challenge of his wonderful career.
"I think it is perfect for him to be here for 18 months more, and then he owns the decision about his future."
The 35-year-old confirmed negotiations have yet to be concluded but suggested the extension of his Old Trafford contract is a mere formality.
Ibrahimovic said: "For the moment we haven't had any discussions. I have a contract that says one plus one year.
"I feel fresh, I feel in shape and physically if I feel like now, probably it will be a second year.
"I want to be realistic with myself - I want to be able to perform like I can do and not waste time. Now it is probably a yes, but I need discussions."
Source: PA-WIRE
